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TSR's 2023 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Rankings (Men): #13 Texas Longhorns
- Gavin Struve
- Aug 21, 2023
- 8 min read
Written by Gavin Struve, additional commentary and edits by Garrett Zatlin
NOTE: Earlier this summer, The Stride Report reached out to nearly every team that was considered for a possible ranking this summer. While we did receive numerous responses and great clarity, we did not get a 100% response rate. On rare occasions, we are referencing TFFRS in order to talk about returners and athletes who are out of eligibility.
With a considerably brighter future than they held a year ago, the Texas men enter the 2023 cross country season with a prime opportunity to continue building momentum and make a statement in their final year of BIG 12 competition.
After exceeding expectations a bit last fall in their first season under Coach Greg Metcalf, the Longhorns bring back the bulk of their varsity lineup. They’ve now had a full year to get adjusted to a new distance coach as well as acclimate to the NCAA landscape, given last year’s group was relatively young.
The biggest storyline for UT may be what kind of form they are in as they leave the BIG 12 and enters the SEC, the conference it is slated to join in the fall of 2024. While realignment is driven primarily by football money, the shift works out well for the Texas men’s distance conglomerate, particularly because the avalanche of their departure led to the BIG 12 adding distance running powerhouses such as BYU and Colorado.
After finishing 3rd at the Big 12 XC Championships for the past five seasons, the Longhorns will be eager to get out of the shadows of the Oklahoma State and the Iowa State men. And while they may surpass the Cyclones this season, the addition of the Cougars probably relegates Texas to that bronze position one final time.
That, of course, isn't to suggest that they won't be any better this fall than they have been in the recent past. On paper, this year's Texas team looks uniquely loaded with firepower. And in 2023, the ‘Horns will spend this fall testing themselves while aiming to continue their string of top-20 results at the NCAA XC Championships.
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While it wouldn’t be fair to call their position "dire" back then, Texas fielded a lot more questions this time a year ago after the surprise decision of longtime distance coach, Pete Watson, to leave and take the "Director of Track & Field and Cross Country" title at Boston College.
The Longhorns’ brass responded by hiring Greg Metcalf, someone who had tremendous success at Washington in the 2000s and 2010s, but also carried mistreatment allegations from former athletes leading to his split with the school and, according to the Seattle Times, left the Huskies' track program "divided".
But from the outside, it appears that Metcalf’s first year in Austin, Texas went swimmingly as the Longhorn men continued a two-year trend of overachieving at the national meet which began in Watson’s final year in charge.
After a tune-up at the "Tornado Watch," the Austin-based men really got their season underway a bit north of the state line at the star-studded Cowboy Jamboree.
There, Haftu Knight and Rodger Rivera put themselves in the top-30 while the rest of Texas’ scoring five all finished among the top-100 individuals. That effort led to a good (but not great) 12th place team finish in which the Longhorns beat talented squads such as Harvard, Washington and Ole Miss.
For the most part, that was a solid effort from Knight and Rivera. Those two men acted as key lead scorers who offered better-than-expected value. And while the rest of their lineup did fade, that same backend group would go on to make fairly significant improvements over the ensuing months.
The Longhorns continued on to the Panorama Farms XC23 Invitational where Knight and Rivera were again rock-solid, finishing 8th and 13th, respectively. However, Isaac Alonzo enjoyed a breakout race and actually led the team in 7th place. Cruz Gomez and Abraham Avila-Martinez closed out the scoring, slipping into the top-40.
Those results added up to a 3rd place team finish behind Wake Forest and Virginia, but ahead of talented squads like Ole Miss and Cal Poly who were figuring things out a little more slowly than the Longhorns.
Was it a perfect race for Texas? No, not necessarily, but it was a very encouraging step in the right direction.
The BIG 12 XC Championships came next and Alonzo continued his newfound momentum with a massive 3rd place result. Knight and Rivera also slid into the backend of the top-10. Nathanael Berhane stepped up to finish 19th and Gomez, who placed comfortably in the top-25, was his team's fifth scorer.
It was almost inarguably Texas’ best performance of the season up to that point, but it left them in an all-too-familiar situation -- a ways behind Oklahoma State for the BIG 12 title, and just two points behind Iowa State for the conference runner-up spot.
The Longhorns responded with poise as they finished runner-up behind Arkansas at the South Central Regional XC Championships, a meet where Alonzo finished runner-up and Knight was 5th. Of course, the bigger priority for them was the national meet.
In what was probably their best race of the season at the NCAA XC Championships, the Texas men placed 18th overall, matching their preseason ranking from The Stride Report. Knight (27th) had the best cross country race of his career, Alonzo (95th) held his own despite not having his best day and Gomez (138th) was good enough.
Sure, Rodger Rivera and a few other men in this lineup could have been a bit better. But all things considered, the Texas men peaked as well as they could have. And now, with plenty of experience under their belts, as well as a new low-stick weapon, this team is primed for a major fall campaign in 2023.
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The biggest concern about the Texas men entering the fall of 2022 was if anyone was capable of emerging as a true low-stick -- the transfer of Yaseen Abdalla’s transfer to the University of Tennessee left the Longhorns without their previous top scorer.
That concern wasn’t addressed immediately, but Alonzo ultimately stepped into that role. And even if he didn't have his best effort at the national meet, he was still good enough to cement himself as a second low-stick for Texas.
While a 95th place national meet finish was hardly a bad result — Alonzo still finished in the top-100 and was Texas’ second scorer — it would be fair to suggest that it was underwhelming in comparison to what his other results suggested he was capable of.
Fortunately for Texas, Haftu Knight put everything together, finishing 27th at the NCAA XC Championships in the best race of his life.
That result was in line with what Knight’s 63rd place finish at the 2021 national meet, paired with a South Central regional title, suggested he was capable of. But the rest of his 2022 made him appear more like a reliable scorer than a true All-American.
Yet, after carrying his newfound momentum into the winter and spring months, Knight seems like the bonafide top runner for an upper-tier team. The senior went on to run 13:32 over the 5000 meter distance, a result that pairs well with his 28:30 (10k) PR and success on the grass.
That resume ultimately landed him at TSR #30 entering this season. Knight's placing in that range last fall was admittedly a bit of a surprise, but he validated his progression over the ensuing months on the track.
Alonzo, meanwhile, is slotted at TSR #49 in our preseason rankings, a position that acknowledges the potential that he flashed last fall while taking into account the fact that he has admittedly not yet come all that close to an All-American finish in any season.
Still, we feel Alonzo has a solid baseline for success, as further evidenced by the way he started 2023 with PRs on the track — 7:59 (3k), 13:42 (5k) and 28:47 (10k)
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Returning their top-two scorers from last fall, both of whom we view as top-50 runners who are fairly reliable, should be reason enough for Texas to enter this season feeling confident.
But what if I told you Texas’ top runner may be a guy who wasn’t even on the roster a few months ago?
The Longhorns are adding an instant-impact, high-octane transfer in the form of Stanford transplant, Devin Hart. The New Jersey native was once a blue chip recruit and made massive leaps over the past academic year, both signs that point at further upside now that he’s in Austin.
Hart would have been Texas' second runner at the NCAA XC Championships last fall, placing 51st overall. However, his regular season, in which he placed 13th at Nuttycombe and 10th at the PAC-12 XC Championships, suggested that he was capable of even more than that.
The same could be said for a track season that saw him run 13:29 (5k) and 28:07 (10k) and reach the indoor national meet. All of that led to Hart being ranked at TSR #31 earlier this summer. If he runs up to his potential, then he could make that placement look conservative.
Behind their core of their low-sticks, the Longhorns have a strong backend that starts with Rodger Rivera, a long-time veteran who is seemingly due for a big year.
Now entering his fourth fall in the burnt orange, Rivera quietly has a wealth of experience to pull from. That includes two trips to the cross country national meet as a middle lineup scorer. He placed 145th in 2022 and 83rd in 2021. He has also run 13:41 over 5000 meters before.
While Texas would arguably prefer something closer to Rivera’s first national meet result, we view him as a relatively sure thing. His 10th place finish at the BIG 12 XC Championships implies that he was still progressing last season in spite of what his latest national meet performance might say.
Abraham Avila-Martinez provides further experience with a pair of NCAA XC Championships appearances himself and is a competent final scorer if nothing else. He'll certainly need to improve, but his best performances from the track indicate that he could be so much better than what we saw from him last fall.
After all, this is someone who ran 28:48 (10k) in the spring of 2022.
The Longhorns' varsity lineup should be rounded out by Nathanael Berhane who was strong as a true freshman last year, racing for the Texas at the national meet and breaking 14:00 (5k) on the track. If he continues to improve and rise, then this team ranking could end up being far more conservative than we realize.
On paper, Samuel Bass and sophomore Hudson Heikkinen should battle for the final spot in the lineup, although my bet would be on Emmanuel Sgourous taking that last varsity position. The latter was a highly regarded prep recruit who represented the Longhorns at the NCAA XC Championships last fall even if appeared a bit out of his element on the biggest stage.
Gomez, who transferred to Ole Miss, is the only loss of note. And truthfully his departure hurts more on the track than the grass where he was a middle lineup scorer. Jack Boyd and Luis Pastor are solid in-state recruits, but likely won’t be ready to contribute just yet.
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With a coach who now holds a year on campus under his belt, multiple top scorers returning and a new one coming in with Hart, the fall of 2023 has the potential to be the best cross country season in recent memory for the Texas men.
The Longhorns have a handful of top-end guys who they know that they can rely on. And so long as there aren’t any major injuries, the Longhorns should be one of the more stable and consistently good teams in the NCAA...we think.
There’s also a world in which everything comes together on the right day and Texas is fighting for a top-10 spot at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships.
Texas fans should enjoy where there program is at now and not get ahead of themselves before they head to the SEC where they could realistically build on their success or, conversely, experience some slippage.
No, Texas doesn’t appear to be in contention for the BIG 12 title this fall, but boasting three veritable All-American candidates and having a great shot at upending the Cyclones should feel good for a team with crazy-high potential.
The Longhorns have not necessarily dominated recruiting on a national level in recent years, but they’ve mostly built their core by dipping into their in-state pool with guys like Knight, Alonzo, Rivera, Avila-Martinez, Berhane, Sgourous and Heikkinen.
With most of those men entering the middle or latter stages of their college careers, it’s that group’s time to shine and make a statement for (and to) the rest of the Lone Star state.
